Alunah are one of those bands who have been rumbling their way across the doom metal underground for years now. Their latest offering Solennial, currently out on Svart Records is eight tracks of doom metal bliss, ebbing and flowing and using massive rolling riffs to help you get lost in a beautiful drone. Solennial is the sort of album that encourages you to navigate deep forests of sound and come out reveling in the sheer power that this music has created. There is a very distinct vibe to the band and it permeates this entire release.

I think one of the things that really interests me about Alunah is that even though they use most of the standard female fronted stoner doom tropes their music remains entrancing. Maybe it's the haunting almost Windhand-esque quality of the vocals, the fuzzed out grungy solos or just the sheer quality of the guitar tone, but there is something with Solennial that you can really sink your teeth into and get a lot of joy out of. Alunah resonate deep within your heart, crashing their way forward with warm production luring you in, step after step. Toss in some top notch songwriting and it becomes very hard to turn away from all that is happening here.

This is the rare stoner doom band who have cracked the formula and are able to bring enough of themselves into the mix, with their witchy and classically inspired vibes in order to make something unique and powerful. While you certainly hear elements of everyone from Windhand to Subrosa by way of Witch Mountain you can't help but to be charmed because all of those bands are fucking awesome. Alunah prove here that they are among the titans of the genre and in many ways drivers in their own right.

_What is the riff anyway? And why is it so important to us? Whatever the answers to those questions may be, Alunah certainly understand the fundamental significance of it. Their doomy guitar driven sound is laden with excellent guitar solos and enhanced with female vocals which ride the storm. With Awakening the Forest Alunah create a very intense and interesting vibe, one that sort of gets at the beauty of the human condition and will leave you begging for more. This album is in a word, entrancing, its mystic beauty often goes beyond mere words.

I think what essentially allows this record to be so much fun is the top notch songwriting. Be it in the driving riffs that define the record, or in epic acoustic introductions (Like in the albums final track The Summerland) Alunah engage the listener. Another plus that makes me slightly biased towards them is the vocal work. The bands frontwoman reminds me quite a bit of the singer of my favorite modern doom band, Rebecca Vernon of Subrosa. There is a very primal power to it that transcends her talent as a singer, ample as it may be. This is the kind of album that reminds me what is so important about doom metal. It strips back the frills of modern metal madness and gives us an essential core that we can latch on too and love.

There is something extremely comforting about Awakening the Forest. It touches on deeper and darker sounds than many of us might be comfortable facing, and for me these riffs go beyond mere notes on a guitar. Awakening the Forest has some of the most purely satisfying vibes that you could ask for from a doom record and that is what makes it a definitive release. These guys have it all, and hopefully the brilliance of this album can launch them on a US tour soon. As the record comes to a close I can only close my eyes and dream of the glory that is to come.